Botswana to provide internet access for rural communities

SHARE | Sunday, 13 July 2014 | By Staff Writer

Botswana has launched a new five-year plan code-named Draft National Broadband Strategy (DNBS), in an effort to provide internet access to the country’s rural areas. “As part of the plan, in this financial year several initiatives have been identified which seek, amongst other things, to address issues of poor network performance, limited or lacking services and reliability,” said Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Olebile Gaborone.

Gaborone added that Botswana has already invested heavily in the East African Submarine Cable System and West Africa Cable System undersea cables so that it can have reliable access to internet.

There are no government restrictions on access to the internet or credible reports the government monitors e-mails or internet chat rooms. The Botswana constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press and the government generally respects these rights. The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government generally respects these prohibitions in practice. [Venture Africa]